Aries
This month’s biggest action event certainly is Michael Bay’s “Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen”, a sci-fi demolition fest well-endowed with teenage
humor and explosive special effects. Transforming robots from outer space –they
preferably transform into fast cars – carry out their power struggle
on planet Earth, making the whole human history a part of it and also involving
a college boy and his sexy girlfriend…

Taurus
A family leads a peaceful life in a solitary house situated in a rural
surrounding, but just next to an abandoned highway, which they have to
cross when going to school or to the grocer’s. This is the initial
setting in “Home”, a bizarre film starring marvelous French
actress Isabelle Huppert. When one day the highway is reopened and massive
motorcades destroy the peace with noise and pollution, the family members
summon an extraordinary amount of persistence and obstinacy, refusing
to leave and insisting to go on with their habitual life.

Gemini
In „State of Play“, a suspenseful crime story set in the world
of journalism, private corporations and politics, a Congressman’s
assistant dies and a newspaper reporter (Russell Crowe) follows lead after
lead from a complicated puzzle of arguable information. The plot revolves
not only around the review of criminal and political events by the media,
but also reflects the mechanisms and difficulties at work in the press
industry. Beside Saturnian motifs of social responsibility and guilt, all
of the above clearly emphasizes the Gemini-Sagittarius-axis.

Cancer
The remarkable Argentinean film “Lion’s Den” (“Leonera”)
is about motherhood. A young woman, Julia, is sentenced for the murder
of one of her two lovers and bears a child in prison. How she discovers
her maternal feelings amidst the harsh circumstances of the prison’s
mother and child unit, how she fights to raise her son, is the Cancer-Capricorn-story
this movie illustrates in it’s own touching manner.

Leo
“Small Crime” (“Mikro Eglima”) is a cheerful,
sunny comedy follows a police officer, who is transferred to a remote
Greek island, but harbors greater ambitions. When a villager falls from
a cliff to his death, the young policeman tries to detect a murder and
falls in love with a TV actress, who is the only one showing some interest
in his investigation. This likeable little film about big career dreams
sparkles with merriment and – fitting the Leo-energy – celebrates
the lust for life in a sunshiny setting.

Virgo
How a regular, average man, motivated by his sense of decency fights a
big corporation in an unequal fight is told by the (true) David-versus-Goliath
story “Flash of Genius”. Engineer and college professor Bob
Kearns is a neat, unobtrusive guy who likes to puzzle out practical things
and one day he invents the useful intermittent windshield wiper. A typical
Virgo-type, whose obstinate and increasingly obsessive, long lasting battle
for his copyright also reflects Saturn in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn.

Libra
For their film “Alle Anderen”, director Maren Ade and leading
actress Birgit Michichmayr won awards at this year’s Berlinale film
festival. The movie revolves around relationship models, gender roles and
the unavoidable struggle, if you are trying for some unorthodox concepts:
While on holiday Gitti and Chris meet Hans and Sana and in the encounter
prove unsure in handling their own love concept… Libra as the sign
of mental constructs and the symbol of encountering the Other is in the
center of events here.

Scorpio
A Scorpio bloodbath of the unusual kind is to be witnessed in Julie Delpy’s
costume drama “The Countess”. According to legend, the Hungarian
17th century female serial killer Erzebet Bathory bathed herself in the
blood of young women and girls to preserve her beauty. Trying for a less
demonic interpretation of the extraordinarily powerful woman, Delpy’s
film adaptation highlights Erzebet’s obsessive love for a younger
man and thus strengthens the Libra-motifs of beauty and love, which are
another important aspect of the story.

Sagittarius
„Crossing Over“, a film with good intentions and a humanist
message, is about illegal immigration and the search for a better life,
appealing for tolerance and understanding towards the strange and alien.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is haunted by the death of
an immigrant, a fifteen year old girl is accused of having ties to terrorism
and threatened by deportation, a Green Card approval supervisor misuses
his position for sexual blackmail – these are only three of the many
characters gravitating around the conflicted field of cultural, ethnic
and national intersections and demarcations. Including some sentimentality,
which is adding a bit of Cancer-quality to the Sagittarian topics, “Crossing
Over” is a fervent plea for a more liberal treatment of cross-culture
issues.

Capricorn
Finally the long awaited fourth part of the John-Connor-Saga, “Terminator
Salvation”, hit the theaters with a lot of grim action scenes.
The exhausting battle against the machines lead by the remains of humanity
amidst a devastated, largely leaden-colored world; the emotionless, efficiency-driven
extermination of human life by the machines, and the story (resembling
ancient Greek tragedy) about a cyborg believing himself human, unwittingly
contributing to the fatal blow against John Connor and then sacrificing
himself for him – all of that makes this movie a Capricorn-film.

Aquarius
It seems obvious to assume Aquarius-quality in the biography of a famous
revolutionary and of course Steven Soderbergh’s “Che: Part One” (starring
brilliant Benicio del Toro as Che) reflects this in its depiction of Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s
time as revolutionary leader in Cuba. Considering furthermore that Saturn
traditionally ruled the sign of Aquarius, the motif of military discipline
fits the picture just as does the relevance of responsibility and social
conscience. Soderbergh refrains from sentimentality and pathos and describes
revolutionary community and collective fighting from a distanced, observant
point of view – thus again reflecting Aquarius.

Pisces
Michael Glawogger calls his film “Contact High” a “Psychedelic
Road Movie Comedy”. It is populated with stoned hot dog stall owners,
demented small-time criminals and campy car mechanics, and it is laced
with images straight from a drug induced trip. A film about a lost bag
and the efforts to get it back. Doubtlessly including some Uranian tones,
this wacky comedy mainly is a motley colored trip through Piscean poetic
nonsense and surreal chaos.

Vesna Ivkovic

Vesna
Ivkovic studied literature and linguistics, sociology, philosophy
and history and as well took a profound interest in psychology, mythology
and different belief systems. Along the way she also explored various
paths of body awareness such as the martial arts of Kung Fu, Dance,
Yoga, Qi Gong and several other methods of body work and motion arts.
In 1993 she discovered astrology as an instrument of knowledge and
graduated
in 2004 in Markus Jehle's and Petra Niehaus' master class at the
Astrology Center Berlin. You can find out more about the author and
her work on
her own website
www.astrosemiotics.de

The Cinemascope is meant to give an overview of current movies and their main themes from an astrosemiotical perspective (i.e.: regarding film as semiotic system and translating it into the astrological semiotic system). A well made movie not only has a story and a certain theme, it also provides a special atmosphere, a certain feeling and it draws us into its very own world. This basic quality that is contrived through characters, plot, setting and many other components also translates into one or more astrological principles. Quite simply: a fast-paced action-flick confronts us with plain Aries energy, a horror-movie evokes Scorpio-like abysmal depths and fears etc. We step out of the theatre and – if the film succeeded in sucking us in – find ourselves dwelling on and engaging in that special energetic quality.

AstroWiki
by Astrodienst is a free encyclopedia of astrology. It collects the knowledge
of the astrological community and makes it available to everybody. The Wiki`s
cadre consists of two astrological lexica.

As one of the largest astrology portals WWW.ASTRO.COM offers a lot of free features on the subject. With high-quality horoscope interpretations by the world's leading astrologers Liz Greene, Robert Hand and other authors, many free horoscopes and extensive information on astrology for beginners and professionals, www.astro.com is the first address for astrology on the web.